The Riigikogu received an overview of the Digital Society Development Plan

At today’s sitting, the Riigikogu received an overview of the Estonian Digital Society Development Plan until 2030.

When introducing the development plan, the Minister of Entrepreneurship and Information Technology Andres Sutt said that Estonia had created a unique ecosystem that was difficult to copy. “Digital prowess has made us known all over the world. World-changing digital solutions crop up and grow into unicorns here. Digital prowess has helped us be bigger than could be presumed by the size of our population or economy. Estonia has been a trailblazer,” Sutt said.

The Minister underlined that, in order to continue to be a trailblazer, just tinkering on what we already had was not enough, and customer-centeredness and adoption of the latest technology were needed as well. “All this will also have to be cybersecure. These are the principles we have observed when drawing up the new digital society development plan,” Sutt said.

The minister enlarged on three sub-aims set out in the development plan: the development of digital governance, connectivity and cybersecurity.

In terms of digital governance, the development plan has put the focus on the quality of public services and public administration, which marks the next maturity level and development stage of digital governance. “Up until now, the use of IT has been targeted mainly at enhancing the public sector, but now we are shifting the focus on the value created for people in the form of user experience,” minister Sutt explained.

As regards connectivity, he said that the aim was simple: by 2030, ultra-high-speed, reliable and affordable telecommunication would be available independently of location in Estonia. “For that, we will improve the availability of communications services and the affordability of accession in rural areas by developing access networks. It is important to develop the 5G‑base infrastructure and the provision of services, in order to also be ready for 6G in the future,” Sutt said.

Regarding cybersecurity, Sutt noted that it was the enabler of digital society. “Without it, there would be no trust, without which digital services have no users, that is, meaning or impact. That is why, in cybersecurity, the aim is to have a cyberspace that is secure, reliable and resilient to cyber threats.”

The minister also spoke of money and explained that the total need had been estimated to be slightly over 1.2 billion euro over ten years.

Chairman of the Economic Affairs Committee Kristen Michal gave an overview of the presentation of the development plan at an Economic Affairs Committee meeting.

During the debate, Andres Metsoja (Isamaa), Kert Kingo (Estonian Conservative People’s Party), Andrei Korobeinik (Centre Party), Heiki Hepner (Isamaa), Peeter Ernits (Estonian Conservative People’s Party) and Kalle Grünthal (Estonian Conservative People’s Party) took the floor.

The Riigikogu passed an Act

The Act on Amendments to the Maritime Safety Act (455 SE), initiated by the Government, is intended to continue supporting international maritime transport through Estonian ports and to motivate consignors to direct their trade flows through Estonian ports where possible.

The Act reduces the fairway dues payable for January to December 2022 by 50 per cent. According to the explanatory memorandum, the reduction of fairway dues will contribute to ensuring preservation of jobs in the sector, which will have a direct positive impact on the state budget and will help prevent an extensive need to make employees redundant.

During the debate, Aivar Kokk (Isamaa), Mihhail Stalnuhhin (Centre Party), Peeter Ernits (Estonian Conservative People’s Party) and Annely Akkermann (Reform Party) took the floor.

73 members of the Riigikogu were in favour of passing the Act.

Two Bills passed the second reading

The Bill on Amendments to the Medicinal Products Act and Amendments to Other Associated Acts (413 SE), initiated by the Government, will bring the Medicinal Products Act into conformity with the legal acts of the European Union that provide for rules on clinical trials on medicinal products for human use, clinical trials for veterinary medicinal products, and medicinal products under hospital exemption.

The Bill provides for the possibility to prepare and use advanced therapy medicinal products on a non-routine basis in hospitals. Standards will be set to ensure the quality and safety of medicinal products, and monitoring of treatment. Such advanced therapy medicinal products can be prepared and used only in accordance with the specifications of a specialist in Estonia and under his or her professional responsibility to treat an individual patient in hospital. They are medicinal products called advanced therapy medicinal products in the EU that are divided into gene therapy, somatic cell therapy and tissue engineered medicinal products and that offer patients advanced therapies for the treatment of certain types of diseases and dysfunctions. On the basis of the data obtained from the use of a medicinal product under hospital exemption, it will be possible later to start clinical trials with the medicinal product and then to reach application for marketing authorisation. The hospital exemption regulation allows planning specific development paths and cooperation opportunities between Estonian universities, biotechnology companies and hospitals.

The Bill will simplify the process for applying for authorisation for clinical trials, in particular when the applicant wishes to conduct a trial in many EU member states. In this case, throughout the whole process, the applicant communicates with the medicines agency of one Member State who coordinates the whole process and information exchange between the applicant and other Member States in the EU and who prepares the report on the scientific assessment of the application for trial. In the future, application for authorisation for a clinical trial will take place on the basis of a single application in all Member States with the help of a single authorisation application dossier through the clinical trials portal and in a paper-free manner. In the future, the sponsor will also pay a one-off payment in a Member State upon application for a clinical trial. At present, the sponsor pays three different fees in Estonia: a fee to the State Agency of Medicines, a fee to the ethics committee and a state fee. The Member States will assess an application for a clinical trial jointly and a single joint final decision will be drafted. The final results of a clinical trial will be in a joint database and publicly accessible and therefore more information will be public. The summary of the assessment of the trial as well as the results of the trial and the inspection will be made public.

Standards will also be set in order to ensure the quality and safety of the medicinal products that are administered to subjects in the course of clinical trials. Special attention will be paid to high-level protection of patient rights and safety.

During the debate, Anti Poolamets and Kalle Grünthal from the Estonian Conservative People’s Party took the floor.

The amendments proposed under the Bill on Amendments to the State Assets Act (421 SE), initiated by the Government, concern the activities of partially State-owned companies and foundations established by the State as well as the activities of ministries in performing the functions of the State as a shareholder or a founder.

In January last year, the Government approved the principles of participation policy on why and how the State is involved in companies. The Bill provides for setting out the consequent amendments in the Act.

The approved principles set the direction that the State would have a holding only in the companies where this is necessary in view of public interest or for some other strategic consideration. Earning revenue through participation in business is not an independent aim for the State, but an additional aim accompanying acting in public interests. In the future, the participation of the State will be renewed regularly at least every five years.

The most important amendment in the Bill is making it obligatory to set out the expectations of the State as the owner and regularly updating them every three years. The reporting principles of partially State-owned companies and of foundations whose founders include the State will be amended. The presentation of forecasts will be synchronised with the state budget strategy process.

With the Bill, deciding on the retaining of holdings kept only for the purposes of gaining revenue will be transferred from the ministerial level to the level of Government, but in the case of smaller holdings, where the participation does not exceed 10 per cent, the right to make decisions will be granted to the ministries.

Pursuant to the Bill, the accounting services of State foundations will be consolidated under the State Shared Service Centre.

The explanatory memorandum to the Bill points out that the new regulation will concern the activities of all ministries, as well as 28 companies and 65 active foundations where the State was an owner or a (co-)founder as at June 2021. At the end of 2020, the volume of assets of such companies and foundations was 7.8 billion euro and 2.2 billion euro respectively, the volume of revenues 1.7 billion euro and 0.9 billion euro, and the number of employees around 12,000 and 13,700.

The first reading of a Bill was adjourned

Due to the end of the sitting, the deliberation of the Bill on Amendments to the Constitution of the Republic of Estonia for Changing the Procedure for the Election of the President of the Republic (462 SE), initiated by members of the Riigikogu Jaanus Karilaid, Kersti Sarapuu, Viktor Vassiljev, Peeter Rahnel, Mihhail Stalnuhhin, Dmitri Dmitrijev, Maria Jufereva-Skuratovski, Marko Šorin, Enn Eesmaa, Aadu Must, Kaido Höövelson, Tarmo Tamm, Jüri Ratas, Oudekki Loone, Siret Kotka, Erki Savisaar, Natalia Malleus, Igor Kravtšenko, Imre Sooäär, Marek Jürgenson, Mihhail Korb, Martin Repinski, Marika Tuus-Laul, Mailis Reps, Martin Helme, Urmas Reitelmann, Leo Kunnas, Uno Kaskpeit, Merry Aart, Peeter Ernits, Riho Breivel, Kert Kingo, Kalle Grünthal, Jaak Valge, Paul Puustusmaa, Alar Laneman, Helle-Moonika Helme, Rene Kokk, Henn Põlluaas, Mart Helme, Anti Poolamets, Siim Pohlak, Ruuben Kaalep, Andrei Korobeinik and Raimond Kaljulaid, which provides for the direct election of the President of the Republic, will continue at tomorrow’s sitting.

The explanatory memorandum emphasises that the election of the President of the Republic directly by the people meets the expectations of society and gives the people an additional opportunity to participate in making decisions that are important to the nation, thereby bringing people closer to the state.

Verbatim record of the sitting (in Estonian)

The video recording of the sitting will be available on the Riigikogu YouTube channel.
(Please note that the recording will be uploaded with a delay.)

Source: Parliament of Estonia